Passions
by PrettyGothGirl
Summary: RG: Not so little Gippal has fallen down the well, and it's up to Rikku and her helpers to get him out.


**Passions**  
_by PrettyGothGirl_  
**Summary:** Not so little Gippal has fallen down the well, and it's up to Rikku and her helpers to get him out.  
**A/N:** My response to the Quite The Couple First Line Movie Challenge. The one I chose was from The Prince of Egypt. Based in the same setting as Desert Rose. And yes, all I could think of sometimes when writing this was Spike in Buffy saying. "Passions is on, little Timmy's fallen down the well and if you make me miss it!" Thus, the title.

"We're trying to get the funny man out of the well." The two kids yelled as they rushed past her and began rummaging among the boxes of supplies haphazardly stacked around the tent.

Rikku blinked. "Trying to get the funny man out of the well." She paused. "Well, that's one I've never heard before." Given how often she was around the younger children of the village and knew about their antics. She'd heard _a lot._

One grabbed her hand and tugged. "You have to help us." She smiled up at Rikku with big moss green eyes that the goggles half covering face made seem even bigger. Rikku felt something in her chest melt. She couldn't resist eyes like that. She didn't know how. She was the youngest sibling and while trying to adopt all the other younger children as her brothers and sisters, it still didn't protect her from the big old puppy eye tactic. Puppy eyes had gotten her into a lot of trouble and also a lot of fun.

So, she laughed. "Okay, show me the funny man." She let herself be led away out of the tent and into the half assembled camp.

"He is really funny." The other child said in perfect seriousness. Rikku looked over her shoulder at him. Shinra rarely found anything funny, amusing yes, funny no. "He saw a shoopuf and stumbled backwards, bam, he tripped and fell into the well."

Rikku giggled. "He did, huh." She could only imagine. It would have been hilarious to see it. Being scared of a shoopuf and all the wild arm flailing.

They reached the well just past the outskirts of the village. In fact, if you didn't know the village was over the next rise, you would still feel alone. Rikku leaned over the lip of the well and frowned at the damage to the other side. That hadn't there last season. She'd have to tell Pops to maintenance it.

"Hello!" She called down into the well.

"Help!"

She turned her head away and coughed to cover another laugh. When she felt she had it under control she turned her face back. "We're going to lower a rope and pull you out." She looked over shoulder. "You did bring a rope, right?"

"I have good sense." Shinra hefted a coil of rope almost too big and too heavy for him to lift. Good thing Al Bhed kids were sturdy.

She stared at him a second, eyebrows furrowed. Just because she hadn't asked questions beyond the obvious and hadn't brought a rope didn't mean she didn't have any sense. "Just give me the rope, Shinra." He had to be smiling at her behind that mask. He handed it over and she threw one end into the well. "Grab on." She felt the tension on the rope increase. She looked behind her, Shinra and the girl had grabbed the remains of the tail. "On three. One. Two. Three. Pull!"

She heard the girl giggling behind her as she pulled up the rope hand over hand. Forget being scared by the shoopuf, the funny man _weighed_ as much as one. His hand came into view. She reached over and grabbed it, letting go of the rope and pulled him out halfway.

He looked up and she saw his face. Angled cheekbones, full sensuous lips, almost too full to belong to a boy, and almond shaped eyes with long eyelashes. She wanted eyelashes that long. Normally one was hidden behind a black eye patch that he seemed to think gave him a rakish air that he threw with every ounce of his will into his body language and speech patterns. She knew him, not closely, at least, not as closely as she'd wanted and later changed her mind about. Gippal, stomach churning, hearts aflutter, trip over your feet and tongue, Gippal. The boy that any girl with an ounce of romanticism in their blood had set their hearts, eyes and miscellaneous body parts on. Not that he seemed to care about any of them. Well, he cared about _some_ of them.

His eyes widened. Apparently he recognized her too. "Y-You!"

Her eyes narrowed and all the humiliation and the anger she had towards him to cover the embarrassment surged in her chest just as fresh as when he'd inflicted it. She let go.

His hand slipped, eyes widening farther. "No." He fell backwards, arms seeking anything to stop his fall. "Ahhhhhhh!"

The sound of his splash echoed up the well walls.

Rikku scowled and crossed her arms staring into the well with satisfaction. Served him right. She turned towards the kids.

Shinra shook his head. "This is why you're never going to get a boyfriend."

Rikku glared at him. The girl exploded into giggles, bending over and covering her mouth her with her hands. Rikku blew air up through her bangs with her bottom lip. Damn it. She didn't _want_ to rescue him. He could stay in the well until he learned his lesson. She chewed on the same lip and tapped her foot. Of course, Pops wouldn't appreciate her leaving someone in their well. He'd have some sharp words with her about it and a few punishments as well. She glanced sideways at it. And Gippal wouldn't learn anything about girls by being down there. "I suppose we can't leave him in there. He'll contaminate the water."

The girl fell onto her butt and giggled more. Shinra shook his head and helped gather the rope. They threw it back down and Rikku felt a tug on the other end. "All right." She looked at Shinra and the girl, who was weakly holding onto her bit of rope. "Heave. Ho. Heave. Ho!" She shouted and ran away from the well.

The girl squealed and ran ahead, giggling madly. Shinra leaned into his rope and pulled with all his might. They dragged Gippal out of the well and face down into the sand. His hands loosened from the rope and he passed out.

Rikku dropped the rope and knelt next to him. She grimaced and pressed her fingers to his neck. He didn't look good. Part of it was he looked like a drowned monkey, another part was he was missing half his clothes, his eye patch and there were bruises all over his body that she could see. She was getting curious despite how angry she was at him. It wasn't like she _cared_ but he was one of her people. He was a Phoenix and the Phoenix took care of their own. She felt a pulse. "Go get my brother and Dachi. It looks like the jerk is going to live."

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